Leftist Demo-gogues on Hurricane Katrina

A compilation of recent quotes from Leftist Demo-gogues attempting to further their own agendas by politicizing the destruction from Hurricane Katrina

"The stark and tragic images of human suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina have reminded us yet again that civil rights and equal rights are still the great unfinished business of America." --Ted Kennedy

"The people of our nation, and in particular, the Gulf Coast, deserve and demand full accountability for this administration's missteps in protecting and helping Americans in need. Though the President has now addressed the leadership issues with FEMA, he must still address the resource and organizational issues which hindered our national response to this tragedy." --Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu

"How much time did the president spend dealing with this emerging crisis while he was on vacation? Did the fact that he was outside of Washington, D.C., have any effect on the federal government's response?" --Harry Reid

"You know, the questions that have been raised about the competence and the effectiveness of this administration certainly are not limited to what's happened with Katrina. And every time anyone raises any kind of legitimate criticism and asks questions, they're attacked." --Hillary Clinton

"This is about the broader pattern of incompetence and negligence that Katrina exposed and beyond that a truly systemic effort to distort and disable the people's government and devote it to the interests of the privileged and the powerful. The plan they're designing for the Gulf Coast turns the region into a vast laboratory for right-wing ideological experiments." --John Kerry on the President's free enterprise proposals as part of the Katrina cleanup.

"Leadership isn't a speech or a toll-free number. Leadership is getting the job done. No American doubts that New Orleans will rise again, they doubt the competence and commitment of this administration. Weeks after Katrina, Americans want an end to politics as usual that leaves them dangerously and unforgivably unprepared. Americans want to know that their government will be there when it counts with leadership that keeps them safe, not speeches in the aftermath to explain away the inexcusable." --John Kerry

"Katrina stripped away any image of competence and exposed to all the true heart and nature of this administration. The truth is that for four and a half years, real life choices have been replaced by ideological agenda, substance replaced by spin, governance second place always to politics. Yes, they can run a good campaign -- I can attest to that -- but America needs more than a campaign. ... [T]here's every reason to believe the president finally acted on Katrina and admitted a mistake only because he was held accountable by the press, cornered by events and compelled by the outrage of the American people, who with their own eyes could see a failure of leadership and its consequences." --John Kerry

"Katrina is the background of a new picture we must paint of America. For five years our nation's leaders have painted a picture of America where ignoring the poor has no consequences; no nations are catching up to us; and no pensions are destroyed. Every criticism is rendered unpatriotic. ... Well, Katrina did happen, and it washed away that coat of paint and revealed the true canvas of America with all its imperfections. ... If 12-year-old Boy Scouts can be prepared, Americans have a right to expect that their 59-year-old president can be prepared. ... [The president] can't think of anything to offer [the people of] the Gulf Coast but the hair of the dog that bit them." --John Kerry

"[Hurricane Katrina was a] horrifying disaster [that has shown] Americans at their best and their government at its worst. [But] the bottom line is simple: The 'we'll do whatever it takes' administration doesn't have what it takes to get the job done. This is the Katrina administration." --John Kerry

"I don't think the president ever talked about putting a cap on the salaries of the CEOs of Halliburton and the other companies...who are getting all these contracts. This president, who never met...a millionaire's tax cut he wouldn't promote, decided to slash wages for the least of us and the most vulnerable." --John Edwards

"Stand with me today and pledge to work for an America that doesn't ignore those in need and lifts up those who wish to succeed. Pledge to hold your government accountable for ignoring the suffering of so many for far too long. And pledge to do your part to build the America that we have dreamed of -- where the bright light of opportunity shines on every person." --John Edwards who claims the president is wrong to believe Americans seek a "wealth society," but instead want a "working society"

"If the Great Depression brought forth Hoovervilles, these trailer towns may someday be known as Bushvilles." --John Edwards

"When the only shot many people have is a good job rebuilding New Orleans, the president intervened to suspend prevailing wage laws so his contractor friends can cut wages for a hard day's work." --John Edwards

and one more...

"[President] Bush, in his dealing with what was left behind by...the devastating Hurricane Katrina, which revealed to the entire world the great helplessness in dealing with the destruction caused by this hurricane, because of the tremendous attrition of the American army's resources in Iraq and Afghanistan. This hurricane has once again brought to mind the manifestations of racial discrimination among the American people, and has exposed the fragility of the foundations upon which it is structured." --Al-Qa'ida's second in charge, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, plagiarizing some Demo-gogue themes.

"How prone all human institutions have been to decay; how subject the best-formed and most wisely organized governments have been to lose their check and totally dissolve; how difficult it has been for mankind, in all ages and countries, to preserve their dearest rights and best privileges, impelled as it were by an irresistible fate of despotism." —James Monroe, speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, 1788